U.S. patent application Ser. No. 259,924, filed June 5, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,843,707, discloses as detergent active materials certain sulfated glycol or polyglycol half esters of alkyl or alkenyl succinic acids wherein the alkyl or alkenyl group contains from about 14 to about 22 carbon atoms and the glycol moiety of the ester contains from 1 to 4 units of 2 to 4 carbon atoms and the sulfate group is terminally attached to the glycol or polyglycol chain.
These materials may be compounded into heavy duty detergent formulations which do not require the presence of a conventional sequestering type builder. The compositions have excellent detergency, are easily biodegradable and when certain of the half ester salts are employed have surprisingly low fish toxicity values. The heavy duty detergents compounded with these actives are low-foaming materials--that is, when employed in automatic clothes washing machines produce a very low volume of suds. While this characteristic is desirable for side-loading washers, it is often considered desirable for top loading washers that a substantial volume of foam be produced.